“What kind of Canada do you want? One that prioritizes industrial development over
people, or one that finds innovative ways to grow its economy in balance with nature?”

If you’re interested in environmental law and environmental justice then you’re probably aware of the fantastic work done by Ecojustice. It was 1990 when they started “leading the environmental fight” in Canada under the Sierra Legal Defense Fund banner. That’s 25 years of successful “groundbreaking” litigation representing community groups, non-profit organizations, First Nations, and individual Canadians. Through their efforts they have “secured many precedent-setting legal victories that protect wildlife and habitats, strengthen environmental policy, and hold polluters to account” which I encourage you to read about in their special “Victories Report.”

In 1992 Ecojustice successfully intervened before the Supreme Court regarding a proposed mega-dam on Alberta’s Oldman River. This was the “first public environmental victory in Canada’s Supreme Court” and it established a precedent requiring federal environmental assessment for most major industrial projects across the country. As Anne Casselmanreported in 2011: “It sent a strong signal from the nation’s highest court, … Not only were environmental issues serious, but citizens going to court to defend those issues was a perfectly legit and valid activity.”